This woman is on her 20th cycle (yeah, I know, totally a I bow to you "I'm not worthy" moment.)  Let that sink in for a moment.  So that is admirable, but what makes her blog so freakin' cool is that she is a great writer and her recent post where she describes a cycle in the terms of gambling at a casino is brilliant. 

She has also covered some celebrity and TV stuff that I have, but puts a really snarky, Kathy Griffin spin to it.  Love It!!!  Check out her blog at:  http://smumziesplace.wordpress.com/

Some celebs have been open about their struggle - thank you Celine Dion - but many have not and sadly this secrecy does not help the awareness and understanding.  This is why I am sending a big THANK YOU to Giuliana and Bill Rancic for being so open on their new show, Giuliana & Bill, on the Style network.  They have shown doctor's visits, a diagnostic procedure along with discussions about their hopes and fears - so real! 

On last night's show they took us on the journey of an injectible IUI cycle.  I had to smile as I saw them trying to figure out the Follistim pen - how well I remember that weird thing!  Bill took to the whole thing with such a great attitude - positive, reassuring, confident (even if he really didn't know what he was doing - he sure tried hard!)  So far, from what they have shown, this guy is the role model of what a man should act like during infertility - a true team player.  Giuliana, girl if you don't already know it, there are many women out there feeling your pain and wishing you much success - hang in there!

The best part of this show is they mix good humor with real emotion and excellent information - extremely rare when it comes to infertility on television.  The two of them both talk about what they are doing and why in a way that would be educational to someone not familiar with infertility. 

They are such a cute couple that although I wish they didn't have to go through it, they are doing a lot of good sharing their struggle.  It took 5 years, a broken engagement, and 13 procedures for my miracle to arrive and everytime I look at my beautiful boy I know it was worth it all.  Best of luck Giuliana and Bill - you will make great parents some how, some way, some day!!

I have mentioned admiring her openess before when she described her frozen embryos as her "babies." Allowing People to do a cover story about her "heartbreak" goes a long way in raising awareness and compassion towards those of us who are or who have struggled to conceive.

She (and her husband) describe the rollercoaster filled with hope and tears as well as her determination to make it happen.  I appreciated that she talks about how grateful she is for her first IVF that resulted in her son Rene-Charles 10 years ago.  This time around she has undergone 5 cycles in 6 months - grueling for sure.  However, I know a lot of women that wish that their finances would allow them to try month after month.

Overall, I applaud Celine Dion and People Magazine for putting a spotlight on this very real life crisis and hope this will prompt other celebrities to do the same.

PS:  Celine talked about trying for a second child on Larry King Live tonight.  She talked about the miscarriage and four tries since.  I was impressed with the grace she displayed when Larry commented on how "fun" it was trying.  Oh yeah Larry, IVF is sooooo much fun. Oh boy, awareness still needs raising!

Sherri said how she wants to have another child but she is too busy now so she needs to freeze her eggs.  Sherri turns 43 in April. She also did IVF to have her son.  I cannot believe she is so ignorant of the facts.  At 42 her chances with a fresh egg IVF are around 5%.  Most 42 year olds are using young donor eggs.  She is not a good candidate for egg freezing and the procedure is far from perfected for even young eggs.  Ignorance may be bliss - but I find it unsettling that all the women are so UNAWARE of the facts of infertility and they perpetuate these untruths. 

Joy was the only one that gave me hope.  Barbara was saying how women in their 60's were giving birth these days and Joy said (twice) "but they aren't using their own eggs" (Thank you Joy!)  To which Barbara responds "but they are their biological children"  Huh?  OMG.  Then Elizabeth is laughing about how she is worried about preventing a pregnancy (she must not know anyone struggling with infertility or she is just plain smug about her fertility.)

This, my friends, is a perfect example of the problem, the lack of awareness.  They went on to the next subject with all this misinformation hanging in the air.  Since they haven't been interested in my attempts to contact them I just hope some fertility doctor will.

Becoming a mom after infertility.  For me it was an incredible gift, absolute magic.  I loved every step, although I had some scary weeks in the beginning and most of the discomfort that pregnant women endure, it was totally overshadowed by my gratefulness of the miracle that was happening to me.  The birth was not easy, but I soldiered through with only a little pain medication and within an hour of giving birth my sister asked if I would do it again and I replied "absolutely." 

Certainly, the circumstance was not how I had always dreamed it would be.  I am single and often wondered wistfully what it would have been like to have shared this with a man I loved.  Sometimes that was very hard, my heart hurt, but I never regretted my choice - never.  Financially the stress is intense as I still work to get publicity for Life Medals, but I hope that it will turn around some how, some day soon (hey anyone know Oprah??)  Of course, I will do whatever it takes to provide for my little guy.

For all of you that are still fighting I will tell you with no hesitation that all the heartache, physical pain, financial pain, etc - it was worth it all.  My son was worth the effort and worth the wait and he is my living, cooing, smiling lesson every day to NEVER GIVE UP!

One of the women has already had her happy ending with twins this past July and the other woman is still fighting the good fight.  There stories are ones of courage, resilience, and hope and here is the picture of the tattoo that they sent me.  These women ROCK and they will forever raise awareness, understanding, and compassion in a most personal way.  Thank you Jade and Erica!

You can find advice about health, fitness, labor, breastfeeding and advocacy, all designed to help you to stay healthy both physically and mentally through pre-conception and beyond!

Recently I received a copy of a guidebook called "Do You Love Someone Who Is Infertile?" and I gobbled it up!  It is hard to explain how validating this book was to my experience and I would imagine millions of other women.  Great to read for yourself, but an excellent hand out for your husband/partner, mother/mother-in-law, and sisters/close friends.  (In my utopia it would be required reading for every fertility doctor!)  Even if they skim and read parts of it, I do believe it will help them 'get it' a bit more and show them that YOU ARE NOT CRAZY or "milking it" or "overreacting."  I loved how the book talked about how infertility changes you, shapes who you are, forever.

The book explains in simple language why infertility often hits women so much harder than it hits men.  Were most men playing mommy and nurturing their dolls when they were young?  Maybe some, but most were playing with cars, balls, and wrestling each other.  I LOVED how they addressed the "Gift of Anger" and how it was healthy - which you know I believe in because of the Infertility Warrior and her strong, fierce, determined stance. 

The book is available on Amazon, but the best place to get your copy is at The Stewart Institute For Infertility where they have lots of information.  The writers have the credentials - Shari DeGraff Stewart struggled with infertility and is a therapist, her co-author, Julia Fichtner Krahm is her close friend that although 'fertile' was by her friend's side all the way and worked hard to understand and support her during her many years of struggle. In other words she "got it." 

The Stewart Institute is currently offering free shipping for this book and plans on coming out with others to address the emotional side of infertility.  I encourage everyone in this infertility fight to get this book.  At 55 pages and $12.95 it is affordable and not overwhelming to suggest a loved one read it.  I have not seen anything out there that rang as true as this book did - seriously, check out Do You Love Someone Who Is Infertile? or put it on your holiday wish list (a good way to get it in your hands as well as the person who buys it for you!!)

Also available: the Mother Child pendant, the Mother Charm, the Weight Loss Motivation pendant, and the Cancer pendant.  A great gift of encouragement and empowerment for a loved one or yourself!

All the experienced infertility warriors I spoke to were appalled that this doctor would, as reported, transfer 6 embryos for each of her attempts when she was in her 20's and early 30's - really unbelievable!  As nutty as "octomom" may or may not be, this doctor was ultimately the one with the medical license and I wouldn't be surprised if that is gone soon.

I am very proud to be included in a very inspiring article at www.GetInTheHotSpot.com about 40+ women that have turned their lives around.  Some amazing stories of incredible women that survived and thrived.  Inspiring!

Check it out.

She has a whole section with success stories which is at times just what we need when we are feeling hopeless.  Check out her site - www.fertilitystories.com

One of the more sensible tools that I used and continue to use can be found at Fairhaven Health with their Fertil-Aid supplements for Women and Men.  For anyone out there that have supplemented their regular vitamins to make them more TTC friendly, Fertil-Aid has it all in there - easy!  They also have some other supplements to enhance your efforts.  Are supplements the key to becoming pregnant?  Well, who knows, so if you are looking for anything and everything that will help, these are worth a try.

I'll keep taking my vitamins, while feverently hoping scientists find that Cheddar Cheese and Sour Cream Ruffles and Cherry Garcia Ice Cream is actually the holy grail for infertility!

Here's what it looks like